Gottesdienst

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The Herald

Those who read and preach during the Divine Service ought to be careful to avoid dramatization, to say nothing of stand-up comedy.

The Greek term for preaching is kerysso, a cognate of kerygma, another term used in the New Testament for the proclamation of the Gospel. Another cognate is keryx, which means "herald."

The Keryx was the ancient Greek messenger. In Homer's time, the kēryx was simply a trusted attendant or retainer of a chieftain. The role of kērykes soon expanded to include acting as inviolable messengers between states, even in time of war, proclaiming meetings of the council, etc. (see www.britannica.com, s.v. keryx). 

It is helpful to bear this image in mind as one attends to the duties of public Scripture reading and preaching, as a way of contextualizing what one is doing there, and thus aiding in the formation of the instinctive behavior that ought to accompany, or not accompany, the preacher, the reader, essentially the divine herald.